An absurd drama taking place in a supermarket of the future in a society where everyone is under surveillance. Reason, truth, and compassion are seemingly left behind.
Shelves, Czech Republic. Playwright: Daniela Samsonova. Director: Ellis Stump. Cast: Stephen Bush, Sophia Caressa, Jake Fallon, Yasmin Pascall.
Daniela Samsonova’s play Shelves is the winner of the 2021 Best Mini Drama Student Contest, organized annually by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation in partnership with the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Barnard College, Columbia University, and Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno. For this round, contestants were invited to write mini dramas based on Vaclav Havel’s Garden Party.
Several winning student plays are available in our online store. By purchasing one of the short, witty scripts, you will contribute to the continuation of life-changing opportunities for creative talents.
Free and open to the public. Online registration through Eventbrite is required. Masks are required inside the venue.
The 2022 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival is dedicated to the people of Ukraine fighting for their independence. 🇺🇦 Suggested donation ($10) will be used to support Ukrainian refugees. All collected funds will be donated to People in Need, a Czech non-governmental, non-profit organization with over 20 years of experience in helping people in emergencies all over the world.
ABOUT
DANIELA SAMSONOVA studies at the Drama Direction Program, Theatre Faculty JAMU. She graduated from a literary high school named after Josef Skvorecky, the famous Czech writer exiled after the Soviet invasion of 1968. While in high school, she successfully auditioned for a newly established ensemble at Švanda Theatre and directed her first play. With the one-actor play called This Is Not Your Karenina, based on the Tolstoy novel, she won the first prize at the Spoleto International Theatre Festival (2019).
ELLIS ABIGAIL STUMP is a Columbia University Playwriting MFA student, Barnard adjunct professor, and previous winner of the VHLF Playwriting Contest (2019). From rural Lancaster, PA, Ellis has traveled the world for her plays' productions, screenwriting gigs, and residencies at Prague Performing Arts Academy and Wallace Stegner House in Canada. Ellis’ dark comedy Once on Rumspringa (Chain Theatre, Ascending Playwright Award, Bay Street Theatre Finalist, American Blues Theatre Semifinalist; 2022) recently premiered at The Wild Project. Through June, catch their biopic Where I've Never Gone (Emerson Theatre Finalist, Athena Project Finalist; 2021) at Westbeth Artist Residency.
CAST
STEPHEN BUSH recently completed his first year in Columbia's playwriting MFA program and is a graduate of UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television.
SOPHIA CARESSA is an actor, singer, dancer and dog mom to Nahvi. She feels like she has the coolest job ever. Some of her favorite credits include: The Wizard of Oz (National Tour, Ensemble), Once on Rumspringa (World Premiere, Ruth), A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder (Woman #1, Swing), A Chorus Line (Kristine), The Addam’s Family (Ancestor, Morticia u/s). Proud graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA). She is especially passionate about collaborating with other artists and creating new work.
JAKE FALLON is an actor, writer, and comedian from Denver, Colorado. He graduated from the Atlantic Acting School's full time conservatory program mid-pandemic and has since gone on to make his film and NYC stage debuts. Most recently he worked on works by Columbia MFA playwrights: Once on Rumpsringa by Ellis Stump and The Covenant by Sam Kressner.
YASMIN PASCALL is an actor and creative based in New York City. She spent a large part of their childhood traveling whilst they grew up in Chennai, India. These experiences have deeply influenced her love for people and their stories. Yasmin loves devising and the art of physical storytelling through movement and dance. They are especially passionate about queer and immigrant stories, as well as exploring the political and provocative nature of art! They were last seen as Willa in Once On Rumspringa by Ellis Stump at The Wild Project. UNCSA Drama ’21.
ABOUT THE 2022 REHEARSAL FOR TRUTH THEATER FESTIVAL
The 2022 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Under Pressure is organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, GOH Productions, Czech National Trust, Terezin Music Foundation, Trap Door Theatre, and Yara Arts Group.
The festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Ministry of Human Capacities, Hungary, and Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews.